Children's home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in Havant

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482293 1 SC482293

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Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to seven boys who have complex social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Young people can use the two self-contained flats on the premises in preparation for independence.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since 4 January 2019.

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This monitoring visit

The home was last inspected in September 2018 and judged to be outstanding. The manager is currently making an application to be registered with Ofsted. This monitoring inspection took place due to Ofsted being notified of a serious incident which was distressing for the staff and children, that occurred in the home on 6 March 2019. The focus of the monitoring visit was on the arrangements to care for the children following this incident.

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This monitoring visit

The situation required the children to be cared for elsewhere for a period. The manager identified accommodation locally. She ensured that children received emotional and therapeutic support by increasing staff levels, using staff already known to the children. The clinical lead, who is known to the staff and children was also available to provide support.

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This monitoring visit

Records of community meetings and key-work sessions show that staff used the dynamics of the group and their knowledge of individual children effectively. They supported children to manage their feelings and behavioural responses. As one child commented, ‘The support has been amazing… The staff have been helping us, keeping us safe and doing all the paperwork too.’

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This monitoring visit

However, a visit to one child had not been documented, and this would have been a Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482293 2 significant gap in his records if not addressed.

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This monitoring visit

Communication with placing authorities was not immediate or comprehensive. The provider was not proactive in sharing information, for example the type of accommodation found, with those responsible for the children. This led to a lack of proper liaison and the lack of a working partnership with senior managers in local authorities.

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This monitoring visit

The majority of the individual risk assessments took five days to revise following the incident. Only one of the assessments undertaken by the clinical lead had evidence of her input or oversight. The assessments detail specific factors that staff needed to take into account to support children, including pertinent previous events, known coping strategies and responses to stressful events, and measures to take.

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This monitoring visit

The manager said that dynamic risk assessments were undertaken of premises that the children stayed in, but these were not recorded in any detail. Decisions about returning home or moving to further temporary accommodation were reactive, and the assessments did not take into consideration all potential risks. This led to sudden changes in strategy and an unclear rationale for decisions made.

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This monitoring visit

In one of the premises the children stayed in an old Stanley knife blade was found by staff and removed, but only after the children had already moved in. A thorough risk assessment should have identified the need to do a sweep of the rooms beforehand.

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This monitoring visit

An incident that had occurred some months ago came to light during the inspection; a child had been able to exit the house through a fire escape window, access a flat roof and knock on the bedroom window of a peer. The home’s fire risk assessment did not reference the escape route (via a room currently used for storage) and the home had not conducted a review of fire safety or wider safeguarding issues following the incident.

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This monitoring visit

The manager said that remedial action was taken, in that waking night staff no longer go into children’s rooms (taking them away from sight of the room on the exit route), and a key-work session was held to address the risks with the child. No recordings evidenced this action.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 19/09/2018 Full Outstanding 30/08/2017 Full Outstanding 12/12/2016 Full Good 18/05/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482293 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must provide sufficient, prompt information to placing authorities when urgent, unplanned changes to children’s care have to be made. 23/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; and that the home’s day- to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(i)(iii)(2)(b))* 23/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

*This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 If, in an emergency situation, the registered person has to move a child out of the home to other accommodation, the accommodation should be suitable and meet the child’s needs. The placing authority should be contacted immediately. If the child is looked-after, a statutory review should be convened as soon as possible after the emergency move has taken place. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.13)

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482293 4 Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, all significant interactions with the child should be recorded.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken by the children’s home following a serious incident that occurred in the home.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Turnpike Gate House, Alcester Heath, Alcester, Warwickshire B49 5JG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Rodrigo Ferreira

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Inspectors

Chris Peel, social care inspector Maria Lonergan, social care inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482293 5 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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